Telephone coin collector



June 24, 1941; r F. A. HOYT TELEPHONE COIN COLLECTOR F'i led Dec. 5,1939 lNl/E/VTOR By EAHOVT Arm/mgr Patented June 24, 1941 2,246,590TELEPHONE COIN COLLECTOR Frederick A. Hoyt, East Orange, N. J., assignorto Bell Telephone Laboratories, Incorporated, New York, N. Y., acorporation of New York ApplicationDecember 5, 1939, Serial No. 307,623

2 Claims.

This invention relates to telephone coin col lectors of the post-paytype in which the deposit of a coin is not required until after thecalled party has answered, whereupon a coin is needed to establish atalking connection between the calling andcalled lines.

The primary object of the invention is to provide at a coin collectorsubstation an improved mechanism responsive to coin deposit forproducing the desired control of the central office equipment.

In certain collector substations of the postpay type it is customary topermit the calling partyto dial the desired connection without coindeposit. When the called party answers, a characteristic tone on theline notifies the calling party to deposit a coin in order that atalking connection between the two parties will be established. Forexample, the deposited coin in. passing down the collect chute maymomentarily open a shunt around a high resistance in the substationcircuit to release a suitable relay at. the central office to completethe desired connection. The present invention is concerned with the coinoperated mechanism for controlling the substation contacts, which mustbe operated before conversation may take place.

In accordance with the preferred form of this invention the collectorcomprises a pair of normally closed contacts which act as a shunt to theabove-described resistance. These contacts are under the control of apivoted lever having an angular projection at each end, one extendinginto the upper portion of the collect chute and the other extending intoa lower portion of the chute. This lever near its pivoting axis carriesa cam which acts to open the contacts when the upper end is deflected bya deposited coin and serves to reclose the contacts when the lower armof the lever is subsequently actuated by the same coin. The time takenby the coin in falling from the upper lever extension to the lower leverextension determines the time the contacts are held open and hence thisopening time can be made of a uniform duration well within the timelimits permissible from a circuit standpoint.

Referring to the drawing,

Fig. 1 is a side view of a coin collector embodying this invention;

Fig. 2 is a wiring diagram of a collector substation of the post-paytype;

Fig. 3 is a front View of the coin hopper of this invention;

15 coin entering hopper 3U passage down Fig. 4. is a sectional view ofthe: apparatus of l0 deposited in payment for a given call uponinsertion in gauge 8 traverses an individual chan' nel of a multicoinchute EWhere it actuates a. suitable signaling device such as a. gong orbell.

before dropping. into the coin hopper Iii. Any Iii after actuating apivoted lever i l passes directly and without delay into a cash boxlocated within the lower housing i2.

As shown in Figs. 3 to 6, the hopper it provides a substantiallyvertically arranged coin which the coinfreely passes except for itsactuation of a lever i'i. Lever H is suitably supported from a side wallof the hopper and is pivotally mounted on a pin it; The

upper end of the leverhas an angular projection 5 M which normallyextends through-slots in both side walls of the hopper and which has adownwardly inclined coin engaging surface It to enable a descending cointo rotate the lever about its pivot l3 to an extent sufficient to allowthe coin to proceed down the coin hopper. The lower end of the lever hasa similar angular projection it which is also adapted to extend throughslots in both side walls of the hopper to occupy a coin obstructingposition with a downwardly inclined coin receiving surface I'l.

Also mounted on a side wall of hopper H) are two spring contacts I8, itwhich are normally biased to closed position. The lower end of springcontact l8 has a roller 28 lying within 40 the path taken by the lateralextension 2| of lever arm 2.2 whenever the lever is rotatedcounter-clockwise as viewed in Fig. 4. Contacts l8 and I9 when openedserve to remove a short circuit around the associated high resistanceelement 23 for a purpose to be explained later.

The operation of the device will be explained V in connection with Figs.4 to 6, inclusive. A deposited coin 24 falling into hopper l0 strikeslever projection 14 a glancing blow to force a counter-clockwiserotation of the lever from its position of Fig, 4 to its position ofFig. 5, thereby removing upper projection M from the coin channel whileinserting the lower projection [6 into the channel. The coin releasedfrom pro- 55 jection l4 thereupon continues down the channel to strikeprojection It a glancing blow to force a clockwise rotation of the leverfrom its position of Fig. 5 to its position of Fig. 6, thereby removingprojection It; from the channel to permit the coin to enter the cash boxlocated below the hopper Hi while restoring lever H to its originalposition.

The counter-clockwise rotation of lever H produced by a coin strikingthe upper projection M causes lever extension 2| to engage roller 20 andcause the movement of spring contact It to the left a distancesufllcient to open the contacts as seen in Fig. 5; while the clockwiserotation of lever I! resulting from the coin actuation of the lowerlever projection 66 substantially disengages cam 2! from roller 2!thereby permitting the contacts 18, I9 to close again as viewed in Fig.6.

It, therefore, follows that the time taken by the coin in falling fromthe upper lever extension it to the lower lever extension is accuratelydetermines the time interval through which the contacts l8, 19 are heldopen. In certain commercially used circuits for collectors of thepostpay type, it is desirable that the shunt around the high resistancebe open for only a short time interval which lies between the limits of0.1 and 0.3 second. Such a requirement can be readily met by theapparatus just described.

The circuit diagram of the substation as shown in Fig. 2 requires only abrief description since it is of the customary type employed forcollector substations for use in areas served by small unattended dialoffices except that it employs the pivoted lever of this invention foropening and closing the contacts. It will be noted that the momentaryopening of contacts 1 8, !9 serves to place resistance 23 in series withthe line thereby producing a momentary reduction in the value of thecurrent in the line sufiicient to cause the release of a relay at thecentral ofice to establish a, talking circuit between the calling andcalled parties. The central olfice equipment to be controlled by such asubstation may be of the A type disclosed, for example, in the JacobsonU. 8 Patent No. 1,376,814, issued May 3, 1921.

What is claimed is:

1. In a coin collector, a coin hopper having a substantially verticalcoin channel traversed by deposited coins, an elongated lever mounted external to said hopper and pivoted at a point intermediate its ends foroscillatory movement in a substantially Vertical plane, a pair ofnormally closed electrical contacts, means on said lever for openingsaid contacts when said lever is in an advanced position and for closingsaid contacts when said lever is in normal position, an arm on the upperend of said lever normally projecting into an upper portion of said coinchannel for actuation by a deposited coin to move said lever to saidadvanced position, and an arm on the lower end of said lever projectinginto a lower portion of said channel when said lever is in said advancedposition for actuation by said deposited coin for restoring said leverto its nor mal position.

2. In a coin collector, a coin hopper having a downwardly inclined coinchannel traversed by deposited coins, an elongated lever mountedexternal to said hopper and pivoted at a point intermediate its ends foroscillatory movement from a normal position to an advanced position in aplane intersecting said channel, a pair of electrical contacts, a springmember biased to close said contacts, means on said lever engaging saidmember to maintain said member in position to open said contacts whensaid lever is in said advanced position and to permit said member toclose said contacts when said lever is in said normal position, an armon the upper end of said lever normally projecting into an upper part ofsaid channel for actuation by a deposited coin to move said lever tosaid advanced position and an arm on the lower end of said leverprojecting into a lower part of said channel when said lever is in saidadvanced position for actuation by said deposited coin for restoringsaid lever to its normal position.

FREDERICK A. HOYT.

